Small cartridge containers or tubular products are typically packaged in elongated cylindrical tubes such as wallpaper or food products. Fluid or resinous consumer products, such as adhesives, caulks, sealants, and glues are typically packaged in cylindrical tubes having a narrow dispensing nozzle at one end. For instance, caulk tubes having an extended dispensing nozzle can be stacked vertically upright with the nozzle extending upwardly, or alternatively, can be stacked horizontally with the nozzle extending outwardly. Such methods of display are unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons including inordinate amounts of shelf space required and awkward accessibility to the consumer. Hence, such tubes are difficult to display in an efficient manner to utilize minimum shelf space while maintaining easy accessibility to consumers.
It now has been found that a modular display unit can be manufactured to contain one or more vertical rows of horizontally orientated cartridge tubes which can be loaded into the display unit from the top and by gravity feed each tube becomes readily accessible to the consumer by removal at the bottom. If the adhesive tube removed is incorrect for the consumer's needs, the incorrect tube can be replaced by the consumer simply by reinserting the tube in the upper opening and removing another tube from the bottom until the consumer obtains the correct selection. Preferred internal construction of the display unit prevents the consumer or retailer from inadvertently inserting the tube in an incorrect alignment and always requires the dispensing nozzle end to be orientated outwardly. The gravity feed ordinarily assures normal first-in/first-out rotation of stock. These and other advantages of the invention will become more apparent by referring to the drawings and the detailed description of the invention.